Congo Wikis

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Will Kinshasa Explode?

From Alex Engwete, who's in Kinshasa but has been kept from reporting recently by illness:

And when CENI announces those results [that Kabila has won], Kinshasa will explode like a powder keg hit by an RPG. And that's not a figure of speech.
For one Kinshasa, which massively voted for Tshisekedi, thinks that that trend was mirrored countrywide. Any other result wouldn't be accepted as factual here. Fake nationwide projections favoring Tshisekedi are also being circulated by UDPS die-hards--coupled with rumors alleging that Kabila would stage a coup. One or two TV channels that hinted about those projections were promptly shut down by CSAC, the media watchdog (CENI chair Rev Daniel Ngoy Mulunda even appeared on TV to warn that his organization had the exclusive rights on the announcement of any election results)... And the government's nervousness doesn't help: I heard credible reports of people nabbed in the streets for speculating on Tshisekedi's victory. And no one knows what Tshisekedi is going to say when he realizes that all his Kinshasa sycophants' projections are all wrong.

In the meantime, people are really bracing for the worst for next Tuesday. I heard a guy next door advising his family not to celebrate if Kabila were to win for fear of retribution--they are Swahili speakers and the perception among them is that Lingala-speaking Kinois would go on a retributive pogrom against them if Tshisekedi loses!

About Me

David grew up in Ibadan, Abidjan, and Montreal. He is based in Kinshasa where he works on a public health project. He has published articles and essays on the Congo in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, The New Republic, Dissent, and elsewhere.